Free T'on Ma by Magnolia Belle Page B

everything he'd said. Nathan frowned. They needed a way to talk to each other. Pointing to his horse, he said, "horse."
    Two Hawks looked at him and then the animal. When Nathan repeated it, he nodded and told him the Kiowa word for horse. Nathan then pointed to his gun and said "Rifle." Two Hawks gave him the Kiowa equivalent and then admitted, "Your sister teach me English."
    "She did? When?" Nathan's brows furrowed as he realized his sister and Two Hawks had spent time together, even after her father's warning.
    "Many times," was all Two Hawks would say.
    Thus began the rudiments of Nathan's lessons in Kiowa and Two Hawks' continued lessons in English. It helped pass the time while the two men rode in a southwesterly direction, stopping only when the horses needed to. Their first night on the trail was Lana's second.

    * * *

    At sundown, her captors stopped, but rather than dismount, one of them rode ahead and disappeared into a ravine. A few minutes later, he returned and waved them in. Lana's arms were once again jerked forward, sending her aching, bruised legs into motion. She put her hands against the horse's flank to keep from sliding down the side of the steep ravine. Eventually, though, they made it to the bottom.
    Lana surveyed the scene. Several more Apache braves, at least thirty, milled around their makeshift camp. To one side, a white teenage girl sat alone, tied to a stake. Her dress was torn, her light brown hair a mass of tangles. Besides Lana, she was the only other female there. She didn't look up when the latest arrivals came into camp.
    Lana's captor led her to a small knot of warriors, where she waited. For what, she didn't know. In a few minutes, the knot broke apart and one of the men walked over to her. Grabbing her chin, he roughly lifted her face to inspect it. His expression held a glint of interest when he saw her blue eyes. Nodding once, he let her chin go and walked around her, closely inspecting her build, height, overall health. Without a word, he pointed to the other girl and then walked away.
    Lana's guard led her to the stake and tied her there. It was a relief to sit down. "Hi. My name is..."
    "Sshhh!" the girl hissed a warning.
    "Lana," she finished in the softest of whispers as she tried to speak without moving her lips.
    The girl finally looked at her, her face expressionless. A bad purple-black bruise covered one side of her face. Lana imagined that it matched her own.
    "What's your name?" Lana risked asking.
    "Christina."
    "Do you know where we are?"
    "Hell." Christina looked down again in complete despondency.
    Campfires were lit as the night fell. The women ate the unpalatable bread again. In spite of her circumstances, Lana was glad that she was no longer alone. She looked over at Christina, wondering why she was so quiet. She had never seen shock like that before.
    The brave who had approached her the night before came back again. Looking over his shoulder to make sure no one watched him, he knelt beside Lana. His leer made her skin crawl. Pulling out a knife, he cut the end of her rope tied to the stake and led her out of the camp, up the ravine, behind a large boulder. Lana didn't know if screaming for help would get her killed. Once they were out of sight, he threw her to the ground and said something she didn't understand. But his intentions became clear when he lifted his breechcloth.
    Lana took a deep breath and screamed, hoping someone would get there in time. As the brave fell on top of her, she turned her head and closed her eyes, waiting for the worst. He didn't move. When she opened her eyes, she saw four moccasined feet standing beside her. Someone lifted her attacker off. As they did so, she saw the arrow sticking straight out of his back. A pair of hands lifted her from the ground. An Apache grabbed her rope and led her back into the ravine, tying her to the stake again. Drawing her knees to her chest, Lana held her head in her hands and, for the first time since